7 ms·

> I’m not even sure why a smart faucet would be appealing to any consumer Very quickly off the top of my head I could imagine: - measuring out the appropriate

> I’m not even sure why a smart faucet would be appealing to any consumer Very quickly off the top of my head I could imagine: - measuring out the appropriate volume for the teapot and delivering at the ideal brewing temperature for the particular tea - knowing that one family member likes drinking water ice-cold while another prefers near-room-temperature - recognising that it's about to pour onto hands and reducing the temperature to below scalding - choosing from various sources (tap, filtered, recycled storm-water) depending on use-case, to optimise supply costs, filtration costs, environmental impact etc. It's annoying (from a privacy and security perspective) how 'smart'-ening even the most innocuous things can be quite appealing to the end-user, and how nasty (again, from a privacy and security perspective) the implementations that make it to market end up being.

notriddle 6y ago
I’d be happy about typing the liquid volume into a keypad and just having that much water come out.
- betwixthewires 6y ago
  Did they stop making measuring cups or something?
  - notriddle 6y ago
    Of course not. They also didn't stop making discrete timers, but I still appreciate having one built into a microwave oven.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
dhosek 6y ago
I'd be happy with our hands-free faucet in the kitchen being able to adjust the temperature without going under the sink to twist a fiddly knob where the water is connected.
_carbyau_ 6y ago
+1 Your last sentence says it all.
thayne 6y ago
I'd be happy just to have a faucet where a reasonable human can get water that comes out at a temperature other than "freezing cold" and "scalding hot".
ehnto 6y ago
It doesn't need to be that way though. Embedded software powered devices have been around for decades, and much like video-games of old nobody needed to beam updates to them throughout the life of the product, and they didn't stop working the moment the company went out of business. All of those tasks could be completed with robust and simple software, rather than ridiculous stacks of constantly updating libraries connected to the internet.
- ryandrake 6y ago
  Exactly! We have, as an industry, collectively forgotten that computing power can be had without connecting to the Internet. Nobody’s objecting to smart gadgets—we are objecting to gadgets that needlessly rely on Internet to work, serve unwanted ads to us, and surreptitiously send god knows what data back to the manufacturer.
  - the_snooze 6y ago
    >we are objecting to gadgets that needlessly rely on Internet to work, serve unwanted ads to us, and surreptitiously send god knows what data back to the manufacturer. Don't forget "gadgets that are beholden to the manufacturer allowing them to keep functioning."
tomjen3 6y ago
I purchased automatic soap dispensers for my bathrooms, so that people didn't have to touch any common component with dirty hands. No iot involved, just a hand in front that is detected by a light sensor and 4 AA bateries. Your smart faucet could do the same.
nobody9999 6y ago
>It's annoying (from a privacy and security perspective) how 'smart'-ening even the most innocuous things can be quite appealing to the end-user, and how nasty (again, from a privacy and security perspective) the implementations that make it to market end up being. I agree. The benefits of "smart" devices could be a great boon to all of us, far beyond the examples you gave. In fact, most IOT devices would be most welcome in my home if, and only if, they only pushed data to a local source directly under my control. At that point, as long as I can manage the flow of data, I would be perfectly happy with a voice assistant (which connected to the Internet only to service specific requests and didn't pass my voice data to "the cloud") or an entertainment device which would connect to the service(s) of my choice and retrieve/stream voice/video/music when I direct it to do so. Video door entry systems, room-by-room climate/lighting control, automated oven pre-heating and a raft of other conveniences would be fabulous too. The problem isn't the technology, but rather how it's implemented. And these ideas aren't anything new either. Heinlein, The Jetsons and many, many other sources predicted home automation like this decades ago. The real barriers to such locally managed systems is widespread adoption of protocols and software to locally manage this stuff. But it's a chicken and egg problem. Why would home owners/builders/renovators include such systems when the IoT devices all phone home and specifically forbid reverse engineering and re-purposing? And why would device manufacturers implement such open protocols and integration with locally controlled/managed systems when there's both no market for it, and they can increase revenues by selling all that tasty, tasty data? There's a multi-billion dollar industry for locally controlled/managed home automation/IoT systems that could be created and cultivated, but the current barriers to entry are pretty high and (given that general-purpose computing devices for the home are on the decline) getting higher. More's the pity.
anoncake 6y ago
> - recognising that it's about to pour onto hands and reducing the temperature to below scalding - Mistakenly recognizing that it's about to pour onto hands and reducing the temperature - Training users that it's safe to hold their hands under a faucet set to scalding, who subsequently burn their hands at someone else's place - Training users that it's safe to hold their hands under a faucet set to scalding, then plain not working

notriddle 6y ago

I’d be happy about typing the liquid volume into a keypad and just having that much water come out.

betwixthewires 6y ago
Did they stop making measuring cups or something?
- notriddle 6y ago
  Of course not. They also didn't stop making discrete timers, but I still appreciate having one built into a microwave oven.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

dhosek 6y ago

I'd be happy with our hands-free faucet in the kitchen being able to adjust the temperature without going under the sink to twist a fiddly knob where the water is connected.

_carbyau_ 6y ago

+1 Your last sentence says it all.

thayne 6y ago

I'd be happy just to have a faucet where a reasonable human can get water that comes out at a temperature other than "freezing cold" and "scalding hot".

ehnto 6y ago

It doesn't need to be that way though. Embedded software powered devices have been around for decades, and much like video-games of old nobody needed to beam updates to them throughout the life of the product, and they didn't stop working the moment the company went out of business. All of those tasks could be completed with robust and simple software, rather than ridiculous stacks of constantly updating libraries connected to the internet.

ryandrake 6y ago
Exactly! We have, as an industry, collectively forgotten that computing power can be had without connecting to the Internet. Nobody’s objecting to smart gadgets—we are objecting to gadgets that needlessly rely on Internet to work, serve unwanted ads to us, and surreptitiously send god knows what data back to the manufacturer.
- the_snooze 6y ago
  >we are objecting to gadgets that needlessly rely on Internet to work, serve unwanted ads to us, and surreptitiously send god knows what data back to the manufacturer. Don't forget "gadgets that are beholden to the manufacturer allowing them to keep functioning."

tomjen3 6y ago

I purchased automatic soap dispensers for my bathrooms, so that people didn't have to touch any common component with dirty hands. No iot involved, just a hand in front that is detected by a light sensor and 4 AA bateries. Your smart faucet could do the same.

nobody9999 6y ago

>It's annoying (from a privacy and security perspective) how 'smart'-ening even the most innocuous things can be quite appealing to the end-user, and how nasty (again, from a privacy and security perspective) the implementations that make it to market end up being. I agree. The benefits of "smart" devices could be a great boon to all of us, far beyond the examples you gave. In fact, most IOT devices would be most welcome in my home if, and only if, they only pushed data to a local source directly under my control. At that point, as long as I can manage the flow of data, I would be perfectly happy with a voice assistant (which connected to the Internet only to service specific requests and didn't pass my voice data to "the cloud") or an entertainment device which would connect to the service(s) of my choice and retrieve/stream voice/video/music when I direct it to do so. Video door entry systems, room-by-room climate/lighting control, automated oven pre-heating and a raft of other conveniences would be fabulous too. The problem isn't the technology, but rather how it's implemented. And these ideas aren't anything new either. Heinlein, The Jetsons and many, many other sources predicted home automation like this decades ago. The real barriers to such locally managed systems is widespread adoption of protocols and software to locally manage this stuff. But it's a chicken and egg problem. Why would home owners/builders/renovators include such systems when the IoT devices all phone home and specifically forbid reverse engineering and re-purposing? And why would device manufacturers implement such open protocols and integration with locally controlled/managed systems when there's both no market for it, and they can increase revenues by selling all that tasty, tasty data? There's a multi-billion dollar industry for locally controlled/managed home automation/IoT systems that could be created and cultivated, but the current barriers to entry are pretty high and (given that general-purpose computing devices for the home are on the decline) getting higher. More's the pity.

anoncake 6y ago

> - recognising that it's about to pour onto hands and reducing the temperature to below scalding - Mistakenly recognizing that it's about to pour onto hands and reducing the temperature - Training users that it's safe to hold their hands under a faucet set to scalding, who subsequently burn their hands at someone else's place - Training users that it's safe to hold their hands under a faucet set to scalding, then plain not working